TRW – Rivers Of Paradise

This trio consists of three very well known musicians at least within their own music scene and the pop scene. The guys I’m talking about are Michael Thompson, John Robinson and Mark Williamson.

TRW haven’t detoured from their original musical habitat which is U.S. based classical melodic rock of the nicer kind. The music is extremely well performed and the singer delivers strong hook lines and catchy choruses. If I had to compare TRW’s music to any other act I’d say that Toto, Journey, Foreigner and Bad Company lie pretty close.

My major concerns are the topic that most of the lyrics handle which is love. And to be honest I don’t think the people are in need of another melodic rock love album. Another “negative” thing is the 80’s feeling this album gives you. With that I mean that the material sometimes gives you an overdose of 80’s melodic rock that’s hard to shake off and the production doesn’t contribute to giving the album a more updated 21st century feeling.

Most of the songs are pretty OK, the ones that dont belong on the album at all are the semi-soul song “Hold On” which sounds like Toto having a bad day. “Gonna Be Some Changes” isn’t one of my favorite tracks either. It’s in mid-tempo and it also has a distinct blues feeling and consists almost only by a single chorus. Lead singer Williamson whisper his lyrics and he’s backed up by female vocals, which probably is another of this album trademarks – female back up vocals. “Alimony Blues” is an acoustical ballad that shouldn’t have been featured here. Besides those three songs there are 7 other nice tracks to listen to and at the end of the day this album isn’t too bad.

I didn’t have too high expectations on this album so in that sense it surprised me. Maybe there’s a craving for TRW in certain crowds, it’s a standard album with few surprises but it’s still OK for killing an hour in your life.